Soulstrut Catnip: Hipster Fatigue Article
DB_Cooper
Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
In the Boston Globe, no less.Hipster Fatigue[/b]I fancy myself open-minded and easygoing, which is why I was disturbed at my behavior last week when a pair of cyclists, riding side-by-side, blocked a lane of traffic and slowed my car to a speed that fell between trotting and brisk skipping. I laid on the horn, something I normally wouldn???t do, while my passenger, a generally subdued gentlemen and an avid cyclist himself, yelled at them to get out of the way.It was only the next day that I realized the reason for my aggressive behavior. I was annoyed with these two because they were grown men wearing cut-off skinny jeans, espadrilles, fedoras (instead of bicycle helmets), and - I???m guessing - T-shirts that were dripping with irony, most likely sporting an iron-on transfer of Natalie from ???The Facts of Life.??????In other words, they were hipsters.Even if you haven???t heard the term hipster (perhaps your last name is Van Winkle and you???ve been napping comfortably for a few years), it is a subculture that has been well-documented, but lately has faced an increasing amount of scorn. Mocking hipsters has become a national sport, and it looks like I???ve finally found a sport that I???m interested in following.Hipster culture involves a certain degree of smugness, along with required material goods including a wardrobe of Kanye West sunglasses, American Apparel leggings, and fertility-challenging skinny jeans. So it???s with a particular amount of glee that the anti-hipster movement has blossomed. The idea of mocking hipsters started six years ago when Robert Lanham penned ???The Hipster Handbook,?????? in which he offered insightful clues to help readers determine if they were hipsters, such as: ???Your hair looks best unwashed, and you position your head on the pillow at night in a way that will really maximize your cowlicks??????; ???You have one Republican friend whom you always describe as being your ???one Republican friend??? ??????; and ???You carry a shoulder strap messenger bag and have at one time or another worn horn-rimmed or Elvis Costello-style glasses.?????????I think if you asked me in 2003 if hipster subculture would still be around in 2009, I would have said no,?????? says Lanham from his home in New York, otherwise known as hipster ground zero. ???But now I think the hipster is an enduring new archetype. Kind of like the hippie was. They go in and out of fashion, but I think we???re stuck with the hipster.??????The good-natured hipster ribbing of yore became increasingly malicious in recent months. This spring, a website, Look at This [Expletive] Hipster, took off and will soon become a book. It???s author, comedian Joe Mande, sent me an e-mail explaining that he has taken a hipster vow of silence until the book is released. The site has gained notoriety thanks in part to reader-submitted photos paired with riotously funny captions. My favorite shows a man in a purple hoodie sitting with his laptop at a picnic table. The caption reads: ???Hey, can you grab me a tofu dog? I???m kind of busy live-blogging this picnic.??????The hipster backlash is particularly vicious in New York, where entire hamlets have become overrun with Urban Outfitted kids ironically dressed as Zack Morris and listening to Grizzly Bear on their iPods while sipping cups of fair trade coffee. Closer to home, the hipster phenomenon is more like the pigeon problem in Central Square: Eventually you stop noticing them unless a flock surrounds you.The question, of course, is why are people suddenly turning nasty on these gentle, vegan, bike-riding kids in the Johnny Cupcakes T-shirts, suspenders, and vintage L.A. Gear high-tops? It???s the same reason why my hair is going prematurely gray and boomers will be working full-time to age 75 - the economy. Back in the capricious days of Fantasia Barrino and ???Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,?????? people didn???t mind these ironic Peter Pans extending their youth by leeching off their parents and gentrifying entire neighborhoods. Now, their antics seem, well, annoying. And this comes from a man who used to cram himself into skinny jeans until a friend gently told him that his legs looked like sticks of celery.???Think of it as hipster fatigue,?????? Lanham says in a genial yet defeated tone. ???A lot of people thought it would have its heyday and go away. But now it seems we???ll need to learn to live with the hipsters.??????
Comments
That's hipster talk--GET HIM!
Haha! Nah, at this point, it's not the discussion I find interesting, but that it's been adopted by the mainstream media. I find the idea that bitching about hipsters has become so ubiquitous that it's considered a legitimate news story funny.
King Of The Hill did a hipster episode that was pretty right on.
Why, are you mad at me?
The story in the above article happened to me - driving, in Williamsburg, late at night. I finally leaned on my horn, and the bikers actually slowed down even further (at what point does your bike just fall over, I wondered).
When I got clear to make my way around them, they let off a "hey F*ck you maaaaan" as I passed.
I really, REALLY thought about breaking - hard - in the middle of the street.
You should've given 'em the ol' door prize.
This would have been much better if he'd just stomped on the gas...
LOL
Bikers need to obey the traffic laws same as everyone else.
That little strip on the side of the road? That's for the schwinn and them. This big middle part with the yellow line down the middle? That's for my automobile. RESPECT THAT SHIT.
TRUTH.
As a former NYC bike messenger with over 250,000 city miles under my skinny ass I have to agree with this.
As a nearly 20 year resident of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint area I have to say that hipster bicyclists are some of the least skilled, most annoying insects I've encountered.
It's literally some type of "I'm saving the planet so I can break whatever traffic law I want" bullshit. The giant bike people and the incompetent fixies are the worst, IMO.
If you are saying there was a bike lane and they weren't in it, then F*ck 'em, otherwise bicycles are entitled to a lane. That is the law in most places.
Not calling out this paycheck cat because the ratio of idiots on bikes to cars is equal. Some riders die out of natural selection.
Get the fusk out of here with that bullshit!
Dudes on bicycles don't need to ride them next to each other and block traffic.
Also, I can't count the times I almost had one of my dogs run over by these fucks who generally never stop at a red light.
Fusking bikers and their neverending quest to be respected and to be granted the same right as cars and at the same time ignoring the rights and wellbeing of anybody else. The day one of these shits actually does touch one of my dogs, I'm going to throw him to the ground and kick his fusking head until his ridiculous mars attacks helmet comes off and his skull opens up like a overly ripe watermelon. That's called a "combat boot irreversible" for you. A fedora hat or ironic trucker hat would probably make my leg less tired.